Aeroplane control.



H. M. RINEHART.

AEROPLANE CONTROL.

APPLlCATION FILED SEPT. I, my.

1,290,025, Pate nted Dec. 31, 1-918.

m my.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Howum m. RINEHART, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS. TOTHE DAYTON METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OFOHIO.

To all whom it'mag concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD M. RIXE- HART, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Dayton, county of .l\lontgo1nery, and State ofOhio, have inplanes which will normally compensate for the tilting ortipping effect caused by the torque of the power plant or propeller embodied in the aeroplane, so as to maintain the 1aeroplane in asubstantially constant leve.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the accompanying drawing, wherein one embodiment of one form of thepresent invention is clearly illustrated.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a partly diagrammatic plan view of the aeroplane or airshipembodying one form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail view .of the rudder of the aeroplane, shown in theposition in which the rudder-is normally held by the control mechanism,when the engine and propeller are in operation.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are detail views of the control mechanism.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Fig. 1, wherein apartly diagrammatic view of an aeroplane is shown, the numeral 20designates the fuselage or body portion of the plane, while the numeral21 designates one of the planes.

As is well understood, the fuselage carries the engine, which may be ofany approved type, suitable for driving vehicles of this -'sort. Thisengine is directly connected with the propeller 24, which extends beyondthe front end of the fuselage and tends to rotate under the operation ofthe Specification of Letters Patent.

AEROPLANE CONTROL.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

Application filed September 1, 1917. Serial N 0. 189,262.

engine, to provide propulsion for the aeroplane.

The numeral 26 designates the wings of the elevator which is actuated tocontrol the lift of the machine in the usual manner. Between the wings26 of the elevator, a rudder 28 is pivotally mounted as at 29, and inFig. 1 this rudder is shown as being of the unbalanced type, while inFig. 2, the rudder is shown as being of the balancedl type. This ruddertends to control the direction of horizontal flight, and by beingshifted from side to side, the degree of any flight may be accuratelycontrolled by the operator as is hereinafter described.

\Vhen the aeroplane is in flight and is without power, that is, theengine is either dead or is disconnected from the propeller, theposition of the rudder, providing straight flight is desired, should bein a straight line with the center of the fuselage of the machine, as isindicated by dotted line AA (see Figs. 1 and 2). I

However, when the engine is in operation and is connected to thepropeller to drive the same, a certain torque efl'ect is set up whichtends to unbalance the plane and to cause a tilting or tipping of oneside of the entire ship or plane. That is, the torque of the propellerand the engine will tend to cause the aeroplane to tilt in the oppositedirection as the propeller is turning in, and this tendency to til-t ortip-can be normally overcome by ofi'setting the position of the rudderin such a manner as to cause the air pressure to strike against the bodyof the rudder and tend to straighten up or maintain the plane in a levelposition during a flight in a straight direction.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to normally maintainthe rudder in such a deflected or shifted position that this torque ofthe propeller and the engine will be compensated for, and that at alltimes that the engine is in driving operation the plane will tend tomaintain a balanced position without any effort on the part of theoperator.

One manner of carrying out the abovementioned object of the invention isto provide a steering device 30 positioned adjacent to the driversseat(see Fig. 1). This steering device 30 carriesa pair of cables or cordsand 26 respectively, which extend rearwardly through the fuselage oroutside thereof, and are connected one to each side of the rudder 28.

By shortening up one of the cables or cords, that is by making the cords26 shorter than the cord 25, it will be apparent from the followingdescription of the steering device, that the rudder 28 will be normallymaintained in a slightly shifted or deflected position, such positionbeing shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2. The degree of dis placementof the rudder fromits straight position can be determined by firstascertaining the degree of torque of the engine 1 propeller and thenfinding out how much deflection or displacement of the rudder isnecessary to compensate for the determined amount of torque.

The steering device disclosed in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 forms thesubjectmatter of a copending application of James M. H. Jacobs, SerialNumber 189,244, filed September 1, i917, and may be briefly described asfolows:

A base or standard 30 is preferably mounted on the floor of the fuselageadjacent to the operators seat and serves to carry the steering bar 31,pivotally secured to said standard or base 30 as at 32. An auxiliarysteering bar 33 is also mounted on the base 30, and normally liesparallel with the bar 31. This auxiliary bar 33 is also pivotallysecured to the base '30 as at 34.

A pedal 35 is pivotally secured to one'of the extreme ends of thesteering bar 31, and the auxiliary bar 33, while another pedal 36 ispivotally secured to the opposite extreme ends of the steering bar 31and auxiliary bar 33.

I As has been pointed out in the co-pending application referred toabove, this construction of the steering device tends to maintain thatportion of the plates against which the operators feet rest, parallelrelative to their normal position, at all times, regardless of theshifting of the steering mechanism to change the course of theaeroplane. This construction tends to prevent the operators feet fromslipping off of the steering bar and coming in contact with the cablesor cords which are attached to the pedals.

In order to maintain the steering device in a predetermined normalposition, and to automatically return this steering device to its normalposition after it has been dis placed therefrom, a centralizing deviceis provided which comprises a pressure bar 38, which is carried by aplate 39, fixed to the steering bar 31. The free end of the pressure barisbifurcated as at 40, and is adapted to fit around the rod 41, which isrigidly mounted upon the auxiliary bar 33v in the standards 42 and 43.

This bar'carries a pair of opposed resilient elements such as springsdesignated by the numerals 44 and,45 respectively. One of these springsis mounted on each side of the pressure bar, and is normally undertension between the abutments 46 and 47 and the standards 42 and 43respectively.

The bifurcated portion of the pressure bar fits between the twoabutments. These abutments, however, are held against further movementon the bar 41, toward each other, by means of a suitable shoulder or pin48, (see Figs. 3 and 5).

The operation of the present invention may be described as follows:Supposing that the aeroplane is in flight and that the propeller isbeing driven by the engine in a clockwise direction," when looking inthe direction of the arrow 1-1, a certain tor 1ue effect will be set upby the operation of the engine and the propeller, which will tend totilt or tip the aeroplane in a countar-clockwise direction.

By offsetting the rudder as is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the pressure ofair currents will tend to compensate for this tilting or tippingtendency, and will maintain the aeroplane in a lateral equilibrium. Thetwo springs which are mounted upon the bar 41 are of approximately thesame strength, and 95 each spring is under substantial tension. 1 Thetension of the two springs, however, .is not the same but the tension isso unbalanced that the steering bar 31 is held in such position as toswing the rudder at a slight angle 100 to the line of flight, orlongitudinal central axis, of the aeroplane. And the strength of thesesprings is sufficient to not only re turn the rudder to thispredetermined position whenever the operator releases the steeringmechanism, but is sufficient to maintain the rudder during flight in thedesired predetermined position against the turning effect of the airpressure upon the rudder.

However, if the engine is stopped, or if it is disconnectedfrom thepropeller, during flight, the operator exerts suflicient pressure on thepedal 35 to shift the rudder into alinement with the line AA of Fig. 1,inasmuch as the torque eflect of the propeller will of course beeliminated. In the above description it is understood that the aeroplaneis flying in a straight direction.

As soon as the operator again connects the engine to the propeller andtends to drive the propeller thereby, he will release pressure againstthe pedal 35 and the steering device will immediately return to itsnormal posltlon and thus throw the rudder into its dlsplaced position,as is shown inFig. 1.

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described constitutes apreferred form of embodiment of the invention, it is to be understoodthat other forms might be adopted, all coining within the scope of theclaims which follow. 7

What I claim is as follows:

1. In an airplane, the combination with a propelling mechanism; of arudder; a controlling mechanism ope able by the operator to shift therudder to control .the direction of flight, said mechanism havingprovisions for automatically returning the rudder to and maintaining itin a predetermined normal position at such times as the operator duringflight releases the same, said normal position being so predetermined asto compensate for the torque of the propelling mechanism, and therebymaintain a correct balance'of the airplane.

2. In an aeroplane, the combination with a propelling mechanism; of arudder adapted to be normally positioned at a predetermined angle to the.line of flight of the aeroplane to counteract'the torque of thepropelling mechanism a controlling mechanism operable to .shift therudder tocontrol the direetion of flight, .aid mechanism comprising aplurality of resilient elements of sutlicient strength, and. adapted, toat all times return the rudder to the predetermined normal position, andmaintain it in such position against the turning force of the airpressure thereon.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

= HOWARD M. RINEHAR'I.

Witnessem J. W. MoDoNAu), WALTER W. Rmmzn.

